The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and is preferably applicable to, for example, a semiconductor device including a silicon photonics device therein.
In recent years, a silicon photonics technology has been developed. The silicon photonics technology is a technology of establishing a coupling between an optical device and an electronic device by an optical circuit using an optical waveguide including silicon as the material. The semiconductor device for thus coupling an optical device and an electronic device using an optical circuit, and including these mounted therein is referred to as an optical communication module.
Some such semiconductor devices each have an optical waveguide formed of a semiconductor layer formed over a base material via an insulation layer as the transmission line for an optical signal, and an insulation film formed in such a manner as to cover the optical waveguide. At this step, the optical waveguide functions as a core layer, and the insulation layer and the insulation film function as a cladding layer.
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-72808), Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2016-524722), Patent Document 3 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2017-509022), and Patent Document 4 (WO 2010/098248) each describe an optical modulator using an optical waveguide including a p type semiconductor region and an n type semiconductor region formed therein.